As President Obama works to build support for his new jobs plan,
Congress prepares to debate his bill. One portion of the bill proposes
spending to create jobs, much like an earlier stimulus plan put into
effect in 2009. While there are differences of opinion about how
effective that first round of stimulus spending was, One company and one
family are now thriving because of it.

Like many Americans, Christopher Ziegelhofer is trying to raise his
young family in uncertain economic times.

The chemical industry worker has lost a series of jobs over the past
seven years, as factories closed due to hard times, or outsourced their
workforces. But at the height of the recession, he was faced with
extreme challenges in finding work.

"[I was] working part-time at a job, collecting unemployment, and just
trying to get back in the industry," Ziegelhofer said.

Ziegelhofer was unemployed for months and says he began to worry about
how he would care for his family.

But his luck changed when AE Polysilicon opened a production plant in
Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania, the economically-depressed steel town that
Ziegelhofer calls home.

"I actually got the job," recalled Ziegelhofer. "Getting that job was
like hitting the lottery. It sounds a little crazy to say that I hit the
lottery getting a job, but when you think of how the world's going right
now, to be able to get a job that has an endless future, you couldn't
ask for anything more."

In his new job, Ziegelhofer supervises the manufacturing of
highly-refined materials for solar panels.

AE Polysilicone got $44 million in federal tax credits as part of the
2009 Recovery Act, under a program aimed at creating "green collar"
jobs.

This allowed the company to hire Ziegelhofer and 13 of his fellow laid
off co-workers, along with dozens of others.

It's at companies like AE Polysilicon where America's economic growth
and clean energy goals come together. Economic stimulus grants created
450 jobs here, with more expected in the future.

Leo Tsuo, the company's development manager, says the whole community
came out a winner.

"What we bring to this community, is we bring jobs - of all different
levels," said Tsuo. "We have manufacturing jobs, we have engineering
jobs, we have business jobs and these are sustainable, high-paying jobs
in an industry that is growing."

And there is another benefit. Tsuo says that once the plant is fully
operational, there will be a domestic energy boost as well.

It's exactly these type of dual-impact jobs that President Obama hopes
to create with his new $447 billion Jobs act.

"Do we keep tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires, or should we
invest in education and technology and in infrastructure -- all the
things that are going to help us out innovate and out educate and out
build other countries in the future," said Obama.

But not everyone agrees the jobs bill is good medicine for the economy.

Economist John Makin, with the conservative-leaning American Enterprise
Institute, says the president's ideas are not new, and not effective.

"Everybody
wants people to get jobs, but we've done all these things," said Makin.
"The operational question here is if we simply do more of it, will it
work. If it had produced a higher growth rate, if growth had continued
as people expected it would, we wouldn't be looking at this program.

Nevertheless, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office,
that first stimulus program created or saved jobs for as many as 3.2
million Americans.

For Christopher Ziegelhofer, who is one of those workers, investing in
jobs sounds like the right thing to do.

"If you can give a person an honest living and a chance to work every
day, and you want a stimulus that way, it's the best thing you can
have," said Ziegelhofer.

Having a chance to work, for Ziegelhofer, at least, means literally
powering a new economy.